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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: trunk · pit · degree · cold · wound · bulb · rest · content

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. pit — in a race
  4. bulb — for light
  5. wound — an injury
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. content — the amount
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. pit — a hole
  11. rest — what's left
  12. wound — an injury
  13. rest — what's left
  14. bulb — for light
  15. content — happy
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. rest — a break
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. cold — an illness
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — temperature

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com